I love it when music blindsides me.

I had no expectations for Omni. Their CD, stuck in the middle of a pile of discs on my desk, looked like nothing particularly special...

However, Omni's mixture of orchestral sci-fi prog-rock and death metal proved unexpectedly satisfying. I'm not normally a particular fan of either genre, but something about Omni's approach appealed to me.

The opening tune, "Frost", begins with an organ-enhanced prog-rock jam. Heavily reverbed male vocals, courtesy of Hazel, sound a little bit like latter-era Who crossed with early Pink Floyd. The song's second half adds orchestral urgency to the mythic sci-fi mood. "Sol" is a weaker tune that slows to a ballad pace, and we learn that Hazel shouldn't skimp on his vocal reverb. "Gemini.5", however, picks up the pace; it's a sprawling and moody eight-minute epic, underpinned by complex guitar work, that builds to a stirring climax.

At the halfway point, the death metal material kicks in. On "WarTech", jackhammer drums pair with an orchestral keyboard melody, and Hazel's singing through a fuzzbox, eventually finding his way to a raw-throated "cyborg" sound. The midpoint leaves room for plenty of guitar solo action, and the drums hit punk rock velocity. "Music to Burn By" signals a change to a more Rob Zombie-oriented, processed guitar crunch, with Hazel turning in the requisite Super-Deep Evil Death Voice. The song grinds down to silence, then builds to a big, flailing orch-rock payoff in its final minute. "Xenos" provides a gripping final act of churning guitars and cyber-prog imagery, warping through several discrete and chaotic movements, while a hidden track delivers the three-minute punk rock capper.

Omni are obviously a young band. They lack polish, and they certainly won't please all palates, but I enjoyed their enthusiasm and appreciated their efforts to create a new and different listening experience. I hope to be just as pleasantly surprised by their next album.